Diseases of Aging

Question 1

Who discovered Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 1

Alois Alzheimer

Question 2

What is dementia?

Answer 2

loss of memory and other mental abilities that are
severe enough to interfere with daily life.

Question 3

What causes dementia? What are its treatments?

Answer 3

physical changes in the brain, not really known the causes of it, so there isn’t really a treatment

Question 4

What are 2 perceptual functions that someone with Alzheimer’s struggles with?

Answer 4

Perceptual Fusion: This is the ability to see
rapidly occurring events as separate entities
(a visual 2-point discrimination).

Visio-spatial Processing: Copying drawings,
tracing mazes, assembling puzzles.

Question 5

What are language functions that someone with Alzheimer’s struggles with?

Answer 5

*An inability to name familiar objects.
*Putting words together without apparent meaning.
*Echoing what other people say.

Question 6

What happens in stage 1 of Alzheimers?

Answer 6

Normal brain function

Question 7

What happens in stage 2 of Alzheimers?

Answer 7

Mild cognitive decline.
The normal aging process includes a gradual loss of
cognitive processes.

Question 8

What age does memory loss begin?

Answer 8

40

Question 9

What happens in stage 3 of Alzheimers?

Answer 9

Mild cognitive decline
trouble naming objects, remembering
people’s names and losing things of value.

Question 10

What happens in stage 4 of Alzheimers?

Answer 10

Moderate cognitive decline
Simple arithmetic becomes a problem (e.g.,
counting backwards by 4), there are
problems with short-term memory, and
personality changes are apparent.

Question 11

What happens in stage 5 of Alzheimers?

Answer 11

Moderate to severe cognitive decline
The problems in Stage 4 worsen
plus people may have difficulties dressing
themselves (e.g., getting buttons aligned).

Question 12

What happens in stage 6 of Alzheimers?

Answer 12

Severe mental decline
Needs help with simple daily tasks, including
hygiene. There is little recognition of family
and friends. People get lost easily. Physical
problems begin.

Question 13

What happens in stage 7 of Alzheimers?

Answer 13

Very severe mental and physical decline. This is the terminal stage of the disease.

Question 14

How does a normal aging brain compare to an Alzheimer’s brain?

Answer 14

There is a physical loss of neurons, particularly
in the hippocampus and cortex, leading to brain
shrinkage.

Question 15

Why is the nucleus basalis of meynert area of the brain important?

Answer 15

Is important for memory formation and learning

uses the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and connects to the hippocampus and cortex.

Question 16

What are 3 ways to in the brain to diagnose someone with Alzheimers

Answer 16

1) a loss of cells in the nucleus basalis
2) ‘plaques’
3) ‘tangles’.

Question 17

What are plaques in the brain?

Answer 17

collections of proteins that stick together
in a way that is toxic to neurons.

Question 18

What are tangles in the brain?

Answer 18

disruptions of the internal structure of
nerve cells, causing them to die.

Question 19

What happens with acetylcholine in a brain with Alzheimers?

Answer 19

There is no reuptake of acetylcholine, only
chemical breakdown.

Synthesized from ChAT to breakdown to AChE

Question 20

What do Alzheimer medications try to do?

Answer 20

Increase the amount of acetylcholine in the synapse, thus
compensating for the loss of acetylcholine production.

Question 21

What do the medications for these diseases do long term?

Answer 21

They aren’t “curing” the patient, just prolonging and slowing regression. The patient will eventually get so bad that medication won’t help anymore

Question 22

What are symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?

Answer 22

Abnormal Movements: (resting tremors, muscular rigidity, involuntary movements)

Loss of Movement: (postural disorders, inability to right oneself, abnormal locomotion, speech disturbance, absence of movement or facial expression)

Question 23

What is one theory for the dramatic increase in the number of Parkinson’s cases?

Answer 23

Increase of pesticides and industrial pollutants

Question 24

What is stage 1 of parkinsons disease?

Answer 24

mild symptoms
slight tremors on one side of the body, changes in walking, posture, facial expressions

Question 25

What is stage 2 of parkinsons?

Answer 25

worsening symptoms
changes in walking and movement makes daily tasks more difficult

Question 26

What is stage 3 of parkinsons?

Answer 26

loss of balance and slow movement makes falls common
daily living becomes increasingly difficult

Question 27

what is stage 4 of parkinsons?

Answer 27

severe symptoms, rarely live alone
walkers or other aides needed for movement

Question 28

what is stage 5 of parkinsons

Answer 28

the final stage, 24h care needed
wheelchair confinement, hallucinations

Question 29

Why is it easy to tell on a brain scan if someone has parkinsons?

Answer 29

the substantia nigra part of the brain is pigmented black and parkinsons brains don’t have that

Question 30

what does the substantia nigra do?

Answer 30

sends dopamine to different parts of the brain that make up the basal ganglia

Question 31

What happens when substantia nigra neurons die?

Answer 31

the loss of axons to the basal ganglia means that dopamine can’t be transported

Question 32

What do the surviving dopamine receptors do when someone has parkinsons?

Answer 32

increasing its sensitivity to the
declining levels of dopamine

Question 33

What is the most common parkinsons drug and what does it do?

Answer 33

L-DOPA
increases levels of dopamine so that more is released

Question 34

What does deep brain stimulation do for parkinsons patients?

Answer 34

sends electrical stimulation to the basal ganglia